At just 600 metres elevation the little spa town of Brides-les-Bains (population 600 or so) is usually snowless and particularly bleak in winter. Overshadowed by glowering Alpine foothills, it sits tucked down beneath the winding mountain road that leads up to the showcase destinations of Les Trois Vallées, Méribel and Courchevel. It has a gondola of alarming vertical rise and span that links to the former and is a resort that, I’ve always assumed, appeals only to skiers who don’t mind spending most of the day in transit or who care little about aesthetics.

So when the editor of these pages suggested an assignment that combined my least favourite ski option – a weekend – with a destination that is on no skier’s bucket list, I balked. Told him to find someone else. Weekends never work, I said, the promise that you’ll be quaffing wine with your tartiflette in a sunny slope-side restaurant by 2pm on Friday afternoon, never quite fulfilled.

Delays at either end, Gatwick, Heathrow or Geneva, and an inevitably longer than expected car or coach journey mean that as you arrive the lifts are usually closing. You may get one good day’s skiing but the horror of the journey back looms large, curtailing Saturday’s pleasure. Stay on until Monday and the cost of your “weekend” makes an all-inclusive week in the West Indies look cheap by comparison.

The less glamorous but more affordable Brides-les-Bains

Aha, this is different, the travel editor insisted. You fly from London City airport to Chambéry and from there it’s not much more than an hour to Brides so you’ll be skiing by… blah… blah…

Reader, he was (annoyingly) right. We checked in at City at 6.15am for the 7am flight (1 hour 35 minutes) and were in the departure lounge by 6.30am. By 10.30am we were driving away from Chambéry’s sleepy little aerodrome (pleasingly reminiscent of a bygone era) and at 1pm we were eating pizza in the centre of sunny Méribel and planning where we’d ski that afternoon.

Luck is, of course, a factor, but avoiding a major airport reduces stress levels dramatically. No queues at the car hire desk in Chambéry either, and remembering the satnav was a stroke of genius. We punched in the location and proceeded with no worries about the right exits on motorways that were light on traffic, the rush hour around Albertville long since over.

Check-in at the Grand Hotel des Thermes was swift, bags were dumped in the comfortable, functional rooms, ski equipment was procured from one of several hire shops with minimal fuss, and with three-day passes in hand, we were away, bobbing up the mountain in that gondola (just five minutes’ walk from the hotel) for the 20-minute trip to Méribel.

I won’t harp on about the varied and well-documented attractions of Les Trois Vallées: for skiing (600km of varied terrain plus a board park), people watching (including the odd member of the Royal family and Pippa M) and property porn (Saudi princes and oligarchs have jaw-dropping slopeside homes here), it has no rival.

New this season, and worth noting for its brazen pretentiousness, is La Folie Douce, a restaurant/bar located just below the mid-station on the Saulire Express in Méribel. It is modelled on the wildly successful establishments in Val d’Isere and Val Thorens where bright young things indulge in raucous après-ski, to thumping soundtracks under the gaze of beefy bouncers.

La Folie Douce

We lunched there on Saturday and the self-service restaurant is a stylish cut above everything else, quirky rustic chic that pays homage to the Savoie. My appreciation was so impaired by the prices – soup, salad and a glass of house white, €23 (£19.75) – that it was a while before I realised the caterwauling was coming, not from loudspeakers, but a man standing on the outside bar in dark glasses and furry trapper hat. Undoubtedly, I was just not cool enough to appreciate it but no one else seemed to either, including the VIPs in designer ski gear brandishing magnums of champagne in a roped-off area.

Brides isn’t cool, but its gaily lit little streets, colourful buildings, medieval church and the turbulent river that runs through the town, invest it with charm. It also has a certain confidence that stems from its summertime status. During the ski season it may be the poor relation of the glamorous resorts above, but from April to October it comes into its own as France’s leading slimming and spa destination.

It’s been dubbed the resort of '’Elegant Women’’, which makes sense because, as we know, French women don’t get fat. Nor do they have cellulite. But if they are ever in danger of gaining a kilo or two or, quelle horreur, spot some dimply flesh on their derrières, then they hotfoot it to Brides where a dose of the sulphurous waters from its famous thermal springs is guaranteed to wipe out their appetite for days and banish any anxiety about water retention.

In between trips to the salle de bain, they can have their flesh pummelled by water jets or be soothed by mind and body-enhancing treatments in the vast Le Grand Spa des Alpes behind the Grand Hotel des Thermes. In winter, it is skiers who can avail themselves of these world-class facilities and after a muscle-burning day on the mountains, it’s a definite bonus of the location.

Another bonus is price. Brides sells itself as the “pay less, ski more” resort, with accommodation costs (there are about 4,000 beds available in a variety of hotels/b&bs/apartments) between 30 and 50 per cent cheaper than Méribel and with greater flexibility, the tourist office promises, for those who want a midweek ski-break. Dining out in town is noticeably less costly, too.

What Brides does lack is vibrant après ski. The last gondola back down is at 5pm (beware the queues on Friday afternoon) and there is just one return night bus a week for those who want to sample a better mix of nightlife in Méribel. The Amelie, however, a popular bar with deep, fur-covered sofas, tries hard to make up for the deficit and serves delicious crêpes to boot. Should you feel a lucky roll of the dice coming on, there is also a casino.

If hotel food palls (breakfast at the Grand Hotel was good, apart from the machine coffee, and the three-course set dinner good enough), there are several restaurants for the short-break skier to try. For excellent Savoyarde fare, Le Petite Auberge, all gingham table cloths and ancient wooden skis as artwork, is one I would highly recommend.

It is owned by Jean-François Chedal, who is something of a local hero. As mayor, he lobbied hard against opposition from many townsfolk for the gondola to be built in time for the 1992 Winter Olympics at Albertville. That decision not only meant Brides was designated an athletes’ village for the Games but also transformed into a year-round destination.

Now Brides-les-Bains is promoting itself hard and, on the evidence of this trip, has succeeded in persuading at least one cynical weekend skier of its worth.

Seven of the best ski resorts for weekend breaks

Bad Gastein, Austria

Far too much skiing for a single weekend here, but it’s easy to get to via Munich or Salzburg.

Courmayeur, Italy

Courmayeur is a short drive from Geneva and offers good intermediate piste skiing – plus steeper off-piste terrain.

Chamonix, France

Outstanding skiing for advanced and intermediates, with Geneva an hour away.

Samoens, France

Linked to Flaine in the Grand Massif, Samoens has the atmosphere of a rural French village. One hour from Geneva.

Morzine, France

Close to Geneva, Morzine offers easy access to the Portes du Soleil pistes.

Innsbruck, Austria

A gateway to a host of resorts in Austria and Italy, Innsbruck offers decent skiing of its own.

Engelberg, Switzerland

Just 90 minutes from Zurich, Engelberg offers long descents and great variety for intermediates and advanced.

Essentials

British Airways (0844 493 0758; ba.com/ski) offers a three-night fly-drive to Chambéry from £209pp based on February and March departures. This includes return flight from London City airport and Avis car rental.

Peak Retreats(0844 576 0123; peakretreats.co.uk) offers three nights’ half board at the four-star Grande Hotel des Thermes from £94pp per night. Prices for a three-day lift pass for Méribel start at £87 for children and £108 for adults. A three-day Three Valleys pass costs from £104 per child and £130 per adult.

Happy Mountains, Sport 2000 provides ski and boot hire from £33 per child and £47 per adult based on seven days’ hire. ESF (Ecole du Ski Français) offers group sessions from £115 for five lessons, or a two-and-a-half-hour private session from £85 for a group of up to six.